In me
by Carter547
Summary: A happy, upbeat girl wakes up on a Saturday morning, and watches the morning cartoons. But after a strange thing appears on the screen and she tries to see what it is, she suddenly finds herself in front of her favorite characters. First Avatar story R
1. That was interesting

Author's Note: Wow.. it's been forever since I've posted a story! I think I lost my muse to my other stories, half because I don't feel so depressed anymore. This story probably won't have a dark past like my others. This is my first Avatar: Last Airbender story, so please be kind.

I know there are a lot of stories where a teenage girl gets sucked into the Avatar World and blah bleh bleah. But I hope this is as good if not better. Enjoy!

Big gray eyes slowly fluttered open to the sun-lit room, and she groaned in an annoyed manner. She had blinds that covered the rather large window, yet somehow light managed to leak through and ruin her peaceful, Saturday's sleep.

Sitting up and stretching with a yawn, the young girl threw her legs over the edge of the bed and let her feet hit the soft, navy blue carpet. The almost sickly pale girl looked around her room, noting that it probably needed a good cleaning up. Defiantly wasn't looking forward to that.

Her walls were a creamy off white, though, you could hardly see the walls because posters covered almost every square inch. There were a lot of bands on the walls; Christian bands mostly. Casting Crowns, Newsboys, Jars of Clay, Third day, Switchfoot, Building 429, (one that not many people may know) and Heath Mcnease. She was a big Christian girl, had gone to church ever since she was born.

She smiled inwardly and literally danced out of her room. "Mooom!" she called happily, skipping into the kitchen. Turning her head to the side a little when she saw a green sticky note on the fridge, she walked over. It read:

"_Isabella, I have to work late tonight. There is food in the fridge, and emergency numbers on this note. Love you, be good._"

With a dead-pan look, the girl who was classified as Isabella shrugged and pulled off the sticky note and tossed it in the trash. She was used to it, and didn't actually mind it, she understood. With a smile, she ran to the couch and jumped over it, something her mother would get on to her about, and landed on the couch with crossed legs.

"Avatar!" she squealed, snatching up the remote and turning on the older TV. Turning the channels to Cartoon Network, seeing that she was just in time. "YES!" she wailed her arms in the air, and settled down. She had seen all the episodes, but she loved watching them over again.

She was glad she lived in the country. Otherwise, she would have neighbors banging on her door telling her to shut up. She grinned widely at that and leaned against the back of the couch. So she was a little obnoxious and loud at times. So what?

Almost to the end of the episode, Isabella cursed her old TV. There was a little blotch of white in the middle of the screen. "Noo, I want to watch the end!" She whined. "Stupid satellite! Should have stuck with cable." she pouted and walked over to the TV.

"Pleeease work! I'm begging yooou!" she poked the TV. Suddenly, Aang, Sokka, and Katara turn to screen and seemingly stared at her.

"Did you hear that?" Katara asked with a rather confused look. Neither boys answered. They walked closer.

Isabella's eyes widen. _Wow, I haven't seen this one? They come out with new ones? But the episode was so familiar I.._ she leaned closer to the screen and suddenly, a huge light flashed, making her clench her eyes shut, Suddenly, she found herself tangled in some bushes.

"Geh! The heck?" Attlee swung her fists at her, 'captors'. When she opened her eyes, she noted they were just sticks. "Oh... heh.." she climbed out and brushed debris off her shoulders. "That was... i_nteresting_.." she mumbled to herself.

"Who are you?" she heard an almost defensive voice question from behind her. It was a males voice, and she almost laughed. _Wow, afraid of me?_ She grinned to herself and turned to look at the man, finding him frighteningly familiar. He was pointing a... boomerang at her.

"Ah.."

"Relax, Sokka, she doesn't look like she's here to hurt us." a familiar female said gently from beside him. He ignored her.

"What's your name? Are you apart of the Fire Nation?" he shook the boomerang at her. She arched an eyebrow.

"Take it easy, cupcake, I ain't here to fight `cha." Isabella waved him off, and he lowered his boomerang for a moment with a confused look.

"Cupcake..?" he asked himself, then cleared his throat and raised the boomerang again. "AHA! So you ARE part of the Fire Nation!"

"Whoa, Sokka. She doesn't exactly look like Fire Nation material." a sickly familiar bald boy with arrow tattoos said stepping out from behind Sokka. Isabella's jaw dropped.

"You have to be kidding me." she gawked, backing up. "This is a joke, isn't it? Or it's a dream, hang on." she reached down and pinched her arm, and yelped. "OW! Okay, either pinching doesn't work or this isn't a dream."

All three were giving her strange looks, and Sokka leaned over to Katara. Cupping his hand around his mouth, he kept his eyes on Isabella but muttered to Katara, "She's a little on the _off_ side, isn't she?"

Offended, Isabella picked up a pebbled and flicked it at his head. "OW! What was that for?" he rubbed his head. "I need that you know!"

"Why? To store extra food?" Attlee stuck her tongue out at him, while he crossed his arms. He didn't answer.

"What's your name?" Katara asked kindly stepping closer to her. Isabella smiled, happy that Katara was as nice as she was made out to be in the series.

"My name's Isabella You can call me Bella," she replied with a huge smile, holding her hand out to Katara._ Might as well play along.._. She thought. "What's yours?"

"I'm Katara, and this is-" she was cut off by Aang, who jumped in front of the girl and smiled just as big as Bella had.

"I'm Aang!" he said, making sure she had his full attention by grabbing her hand and shaking it. Bella would have laughed at this behavior, but it might have seemed rude, so she kept it in. She shook his hand back and looked behind Aang to see a rather annoyed looking Katara.

"And I'm Sokka." Sokka said, acting aloof. _Of course, so Sokka. _Bella thought.

"It's nice to meet you all." she giggled in spite of herself, and took her hand back. Katara moved out from Aang and looked her over.

"What Nation are you from? I don't recognize those clothes at _all_.." she said. Blinking, Bella looked down at herself. She was still wearing her pajamas, which was a pair of black cotton pants with penguins on them, and a tank top with a matching penguin on it.

"Ahh.." she chose not to tell them there was an actual show about them. They would think she was crazy! What Nation? "I'm... I'm from... a small island _far_ from here." she lied quickly. "Yeah, it's really out of the way.. we aren't really part of a Nation..." _Oh Jesus, they're not going to buy this.. _she cursed to herself.

"Oh, what's it called?" Aang asked. "I know almost all the islands! We fly a lot!" Bella had an almost sheepish look, hoping they wouldn't notice.

"Umm... Hawaii...?"

"Hawaii? I don't think I know about that one..." Aang pursed his lips in thought.

"Right, you see... it's _very_ small and isolated. I don't think it's even on a map!" feeling a little bit uncomfortable with her lie, she rubbed her left arm. "But, enough about me. What are you guys doing out here?" she asked.

"Well, we were just on our way to Ba Sing Sae." Katara answered.

"Wait, what were you doing fighting a bush?" Sokka asked in an almost amused way. Bella laughed a little at herself.

"It was attacking me!" she held her arms in the air and made her fingers look like claws. "Those things are **EVIL**!" all four of them laughed together, then Aang nudged her.

"Would you like to come along with us? I'm sure Appa could carry one more!" there was a hopeful look in his gray eyes, but Sokka took his shoulder and made him look at him.

"Aang, we just met her! You shouldn't be so quick to trust people you just meet. You could really get hurt like that." Sokka murmured quietly, trying to make it to where Bella couldn't hear. Though, the young girl did and looked down at the ground, slightly hurt by this.

"Oh, come on Sokka. I don't think she's even a bender!" Katara rolled her eyes, then looked at Bella. "Are you?" Bella looked up with a slightly lost look.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. She didn't know what she could do, even if this was a dream.

"You don't know?" Aang repeated after her, and she nodded.

"No, I mean, I've never tried anything." she said with a shrug. The three exchanged glances.

"Well, why haven't you?" Sokka asked her. Attlee pushed her long, dark brown hair out of her face and shrugged again.

"Dunno, guess I've never really thought about it," _Because where I come from you guys aren't even real._ She added mentally.

"Well, why don't you try?" Aang smiled assuringly, and Bella couldn't help but smile back a little.

"Yeah, I'm sure it couldn't hurt anything." Katara agreed. But Bella looked hesitant.

"But what if I lose control of it? I could hurt you guys..." she said in a much lower tone. Bella looked down at her bare feet.

"Don't worry, if you lose control of it then Aang can protect us; he's the Avatar." Katara stated in a rather proud voice. Bella gave him a fake surprised look, which obviously looked real.

"You _are_?" she then smiled and put her hands together. "Wow.."

"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his head slightly blushing. Bella remembered how he didn't like to announce it much, and nodded.

"My father would have loved to meet you," she said, truthfully. Her father had been a big fan of Avatar, he was the one to get her so crazy about it. Bella looked away, a pained look on her face.

"Would have?" Sokka repeated, but in a softer tone.

"Where are your parents?" Katara asked after, and Aang's smiled and blush faded quickly.

"I... can tell you where they're _not_." Bella then smiled to get off the subject. "But don't worry about it, it's fine."

The three friends exchanged concerned looks, and there was a period of uncomfortable silence. Aang, of course, was the one to break it. "So, you ready to see if you can bend?" he asked cheerfully.

Nodding hesitantly, Bella took a step away from them just to be safe._ Don't want to harm my heroes_. Bella mused to herself, very curious as to what she could do. Automatically, she excluded air bending, because Aang was supposed to be the _last_ air bender. It was the name of the show, after all.

Katara held her water-pack upright and took off the cap. "Okay, try to pull the water out of this pouch." she instructed Bella. Looking at Katara's pouch, she concentrated, lift her hands up and pictured the water lifting out of the pouch. Sadly, nothing happened.

"Well, I guess you aren't a water-bender." Katara commented putting the cap back on after a couple minutes Bella's attempts. Bella sighed and looked down. Oh, she hoped she wasn't a fire bender. They wouldn't trust her, would they?

"Okay," Sokka picked up the pebble that Bella had previously thrown at him. "try to pick up this pebble."

"And hopefully hit you in the head again," Bella teased while he mumbled, rubbing the spot again. Bella turned to the pebble and took a deep breath, then lifted her hands and picture the pebble lifting itself into the air. Again, nothing happened.

"Not a earth bender, either." Sokka said, now eying her warily, though, Aang and Katara didn't look the least bit worried that she might be a fire bender.

"Alright then," Aang said, still smiling at her. "Think of something.. umm.. really upsetting or angering, and see if you palms get really hot.

Doing as instructed, Bella thought of the day her father died. He had been hit by a drunk driver. She clenched her fists, fighting off tears. Aang walked over and took her hand, and she unclenched it for him. After a tense moment, Aang shook his head.

"Nothing."

In a way, she was relieved. But she was sad she didn't have any special abilities. Aang put a hand on her shoulder. "There is only one left." he told her, and it looked like he had some sort of hope.

"Aang, she couldn't be. There aren't any left; only you." Sokka said in a bored and discouraging tone, probably not caring at all.

"But it wouldn't hurt to try." Aang said with sudden sharpness in his tone. Sokka lifted his arms in a defensive way.

"Okay, okay! Whatever floats your boat, Aang." Sokka said quickly. Aang turned back to him and smiled a little.

"Just do what I do," he told Bella, and turned to face their left. He held his palms away from him, and twisted his wrists and moved the around gracefully, then pushed forward. A tuft of air blew forward, uplifting some dust. When it stopped, he look back to watch her.

Bella didn't think she could be an air bender, but sighed and nodded. At least it would make Aang happy. She copied the movements she had seen Aang do, and pushed her arms forward a little harder than Aang had.

Author's Note: Oooh, cliffhanger! I'm just so evil! Leave a nice review please! Hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it!


	2. Do You Miss Him?

Author's Note: Wow, thanks a lot you guys! Y'all make me smile! If you want to see pictures of Bella's stuff, like her pajama's they're on my profile! ^_~

_Whoosh!_

Bella found herself blown back and being thrown into a tree, groaning in pain. She sort of blacked out for a moment, then realized that Aang, Katara, and Sokka was knelt beside her. Aang shook her.

"Isabella, are you okay? Wake up!" his voice seemed to echo, but as she listened closer, it clears up. Bella fluttered her eyes opened and looked around, trying to refocus her gray eyes.

"Whoa... what happened?" she asked, noting that she was still with them in the 'Avatar World'.

"You're an air bender!" announced Aang, innocently unaware of her question. He was really excited about this, and Bella sat up quickly.

"I am?" she nearly shouted. Katara pushed her back into a laying position.

"Whoa, take it easy. You might have a concussion." she told her in a tone that she didn't want to hear any arguing._ Motherly Katara.._ Bella thought, almost laughing. She probably would have, if she didn't have a head ache.

"Oww.. I need Ibuprofen..." Bella grumbled rubbing her head.

"Ivy what?" Sokka make a thinking face, making Bella realize she had said her thoughts out loud.

"Err... it's... nothing." she shook her head. Aang had the brightest look on his face, grinning ear to ear.

"You are an _Air _**Bender**!" he repeated, jumping up from his knelling position and throwing his arms into the air. "I'm not the only Air Bender left! I knew it!" then he started to do some funny little happy dance, and Bella giggled. Katara was smiling at Aang, glad that he was so ecstatic.

Testing, Bella sat herself up slowly, not wanting to lay down anymore, and she rubbed her temples. "Okay, so maybe I over did it a tad." she blinked twice.

"Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous?" asked Katara as she hovered over her uneasily. Bella shook her head slowly as to not make the head ache worse.

"Naw, I'm good. I probably just gave myself a headache to last me an eternity." Bella grinned to herself, but Katara still looked worried. "I'm fine, really."

"Alright... but take it easy for a while." Katara sighed, then glanced back at the still dancing Aang. Realizing everyone was watching him, he stopped in the middle of a kick, then lost his balance.

"W-Whoa!" he fell back words and landed on his backside. There was a moment of silence, then everyone started to laugh. Despite embarrassing himself in front of someone new, Aang laughed as well, though there was a small blush on his cheeks.

After they settled down, Bella stood up, and brushed herself off. "I.. can't believe I'm an Air Bender.. I mean.. Aang is supposed to be the last one.." she thought out loud, something she often did.

"I know, I can't believe this! This is so totally cool!" Aang sprung up from his spot on the ground and grabbed her arm. "Common, Bella! You gotta meet someone!" then he took off running, dragging her behind.

"Whoa!" she yelped, but laughed.

"Ahg, Aang! Be careful with her!" Katara yelled after them, then ran after them. Sokka stood there for a moment, the groaned.

"Why am I always the one left alone!" he whined then took off after them. "H-HEY! Wait up!"

Bella had a pretty good idea who she was supposed to meet; the big friendly flying friend of Aang's. "Appa!" Aang let Bella's arm go and and jumped into the air, landing on Appa's forehead and hugged him. The beast let out a friendly groan, then curiously turned his head to the side at the stranger.

Sliding down so he was sitting on Appa's nose, Aang turned to face Bella with a huge grin on his face. "Bella, this is Appa, my flying bison!" Bella acted surprised, though the timid part wasn't fake. Bella had always loved Appa, but he looked a _lot_ bigger up close!

"He _flies_?" she asked with an awed tone. Aang nodded enthusiastically. Appa grunted, sniffed at Bella, the opened his mouth and drug his tongue all the way up her. When he was finished, the groaned happily. Bella twitched.

"Eww... hehe!" she laughed and patted the side of Appa's head. "It's nice to meet you too, boy!" Aang's smile widened, seeing that she and Appa was going to get along great. Then Momo chirped from atop the bison's head and flew down to great the new arrival. He landed and her shoulder, giving her a curious look.

"And that's Momo." laughed Aang, watching the lemur lick Bella's cheek. "He likes you!" Bella reached up and scratched under Momo's chin, and he leaned into her touch.

"Awww, he's cute!" she giggled, and Aang watched in amusement as Momo jumped on top of her head. Bella looked up and grinned and the curious Momo. "Having fun?" she asked.

Momo chirped back and jumped off, flying to Aang and landing on his head. Aang laughed, reaching up and stroking the flying lemur. He made a sort of purring sound and stayed there.

Katara soon arrived followed by a panting Sokka, and Bella and Aang looked over at the, both of then smiling wide. Sokka caught his breath, and arched an eyebrow, seeing as both Aang's and Bella's smiles mirrored each other's, though they didn't know it. Sokka raised a finger.

"Ah, is it just me, or am I seeing double?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two. At once, the two frowned and looked back at each other with confused faces. Only Katara actually got it, and laughed lightly. Aang and Bella blew it off and continued to smile, then Aang got off of Appa and walked over to her.

"Soooo... are you going to travel with us?" again, there was that hint of pure hope and innocence in his gray eyes that Bella couldn't say no to. _I can't say no to those eyes!_ She thought. Bella nodded enthusiastically and grinned even wider.

"Sure, why not? I have nothing better to do." said Bella as she looked to see Katara and Sokka's reaction. She didn't have any time to, because Aang threw his arms around her in a huge hug.

"Alright!" Aang cheered, letting her go from his quick hug. He grabbed her hand and air bended atop of Appa's saddle, and waiting for his friends. Bella blinked, then just shook her head with a quiet laugh.

Katara and Sokka soon got on, and Aang moved to Appa's head and grabbed the reins. "Welcome to flight Appa, please remain seated and keep your hands and feet inside at all times!" Aang called back in an 'official' deeper tone, and the three passengers in the saddle couldn't help but laugh. "Yip-yip!"

With those two simple word, Appa lifted his big fluffy tail, and swooshed it down, and took off into the air. Bella looked around in amazement, her dark brown hair blowing behind her freely. Aang glanced back with a smiled, then looked ahead, sighing contently. He wasn't the last air-bender, after all! Maybe there would be more!

****Hours later****

It seemed like they had been flying _forever_ now, and Bella was quite bored and tired. The sun was lower in the sky, almost getting ready to set. Bella almost fell asleep, but was disturbed when Katara spoke.

"I think we should land and set up camp," she announced, knowing everyone was tired. Especially Aang; it takes a lot of concentration to steer Appa. Now that the giant beast was mentioned, Bella realized that Appa was flying a lot lower, and his feet and tail drooped slightly. The flying bison groaned in tired agreement.

"That's.." Aang was cut off by a yawn. "That's a good idea." he nodded and looked around for a safe place to land. He spotted a small clearing and pulled Appa's reins to the left. Appa's obliged his owner's direction and turned left, and soon he swooped in and landed. After landing, the giant bison groaned and plopped onto his stomach.

The four passengers, plus Momo, climbed off of Appa and got onto the ground, looking around. Bella wandered away a little bit. Not to far away, Bella there was a cave. "Hey guys, there's a cave over here!" she called, waving her hand in the direction.

The three ran over to it, and smiled. "Good spotting, Bella! That will be perfect!" Katara patted her back happily, and ran off towards it. Bella shrugged.

"I have my moments." she laughed and ran off after her along with Aang, Sokka, and Momo who had perched himself on a very annoyed, yet too tired to do anything, Sokka's head. Appa groaned a sigh and picked himself up, following them.

After setting up camp in the mouth of the cave, Sokka and Katara had immediately went to sleep, and Sokka was snoring rather loudly. Bella was sitting just outside of the cave, watching the sun go down.

Aang, noticing that his knew friend was sitting alone, walked over to her cheerfully and sat down. "Hey," Aang grinned. Bella glanced over and smiled a little.

"Hey," she said back, looking over at the tree-tops that the sun was hiding itself behind. Aang sensed the girl's depressed shade, and frowned a little bit.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, though she didn't respond for a moment, seemingly not hearing him. After a second, she looked at him again.

"No, I'm fine." she lied, and Aang knew it. She looked back to the trees, though the sun was no longer visible. Aang had a pretty good idea what was wrong, and he looked out to the trees too.

"Do you miss them?" Aang asked, and Bella blinked a little, knowing she had been caught. She sighed and pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"My mom's still alive," Bella informed him, and Aang was slightly surprised, from what she had said about her parents earlier. "But my dad died when I was nine years old."

"Oh... do you miss him much?" repeated Aang, and she glanced back at him, and he looked back. She nodded a little, chewing on her bottom lip.

"I do," she admitted. "But I know he's in a better place." she had to look away again, but this time it was to hide the broken look on her face. "Sometimes I don't think it's fair. People we love are taken away from us, and we think, 'Too soon!'. But I know it all has a purpose.."

Aang listened to her words with total agreement. But when her voice broke into a sob at the end, he knew she was crying, and he uneasily looked down. "Bella.." he put a hand on her shoulder, and when she didn't jerk away, he moved closer and wrapped his arm around her small shoulders, and she turned and hugged him, burring her face him his shoulder.

A little surprised at first, Aang hesitated for a moment looking down at her. His eyes softened soon though, and he wrapped his other arm around her in a secure hug.

After a couple minutes, Aang rested his head on top of Bella's and sighed. "Bella, I swear to you that I'm not going to leave you, okay? I'll always be here for you."

Bella blinked away her tears, because his words touched her. Two pairs of gray eyes met as she looked up at him, and smiled a little, wiping away her last tears.

"Thanks, Aang." Bella whispered, sniffing some. She knew he was sincere by the smile that curled on his lips. She couldn't help but smile back as he nodded.

"No problem."

When they went to bed, both Air Benders lay awake in their sleeping bags (Bella was grateful that they had one extra), thinking over what had happened. Aang thought, _Even though I have only known her a day, it feels like I have known Bella for years._

And Bella was thinking, _Even though I have watched his cartoons and known who he was for years, there is still so much that I have to learn about this goofy Avatar._

Author's Note: XD So, what do you think? Good second chapter? Thank you all who reviewed chapter one! You made my day, really! Review please!


	3. Not A Coward

Author's noter: Thanks a lot you guys! You rock! Enjoy the next chapter!

"Wait... what?" Bella stared at Aang like he had two heads, her arms crossed in an unsure way. Her dark brown hair was now up in an blue ribbon that Katara had given her, and her gray eyes were filled with a wary look.

"Common," Aang grinned assuringly, pushing his now open glider towards her. "It'll be fun!"

"No _way_ am I trying to fly on that thing!" Bella threw her arms up aggravated. They had decided to stick around the area for a little longer, and Bella and Aang had snuck off further into the forest until they come across another clearing. Aang come up with the bright idea that Bella could fly on his glider. And Bella was _not_ liking that idea.

"I know you can do it! At least try!" he pouted when she turned on her heel and began to walk away. She turned again and pointed at him.

"I would fall and break my neck on that!" she said curtly, a frown now on her face. Aang walked up to her.

"Okay, well, what if you flew with me first?" asked Aang with a smile. Bella blinked with an arched eyebrow.

"That flimsy little thing couldn't possible hold us both." she said crossed her arms again. Aang held up one finger, grinning wider as he bounced the end of it of the ground.

"It held me and Sokka up! And you're a lot smaller than he is." Aang announced, obviously very proud of his glider and flying skills. He had took it upon himself to teach Bella how to Air Bend, since as far as they knew they were the only two left.

Bella chewed on her bottom lip, still a bit unsure. "And you aren't going to let me fall?" she asked timidly.

"You know I wouldn't let you fall!" Aang held his hand out to her. "Trust me." again, that look that he had rendered Bella's attempts to say no useless, and she sighed and took his hand.

"Alright... But I swear, Aang, if you let me fall and I die, I'm going to haunt you till the end of your days." she vowed, but he pretty much ignored her, too happy to care about her threats. He wouldn't let her fall, anyways; he was a master at this.

He put glider behind him and turned away from Bella. "Get on!"

Bella hesitated, a blush slowly creeping its way onto her cheeks. She realized that by doing so, she would be pretty much right on top of Aang. Bella didn't know if Aang knew what he was doing or was innocently oblivious to it, but either way it was really making her cheeks burn.

Taking a deep calming breathe, Bella stepped forward and got on shyly, biting back the nervous smile on her face. Looking back to check that she was on securely, Bella noticed the slight blush on Aang cheeks and blushed more. He did notice it, great.

"Alright, hang on tight!" he announced, then took off quick. Bella did so without having to be told twice, maybe a little tighter than she had too, because she was frightened. Not that she doubted Aang's ability as a great Air Bender or at flying, but she hadn't ever been in a plane before either. So of course she was scared beyond belief. She clenched her eyes shut.

Aang glanced back with a huge grin on his face, laughing a little. "Open your eyes, Bella! It's a great view!" he looked forward and just glided around.

Bella cracked one eye open, testing herself. Then she opened the other and looked around. Breath taking... "Wow.." was all the girl could say, and Aang's smile softened without looking back.

"It's great, isn't it? Your first time.." he seemed to be remembering something, probably his own first time, and Bella nodded, though he couldn't see it.

"Yeah... it's amazing, Aang."

After a little while Aang landed, letting Bella get off. He smiled a little crookedly at her.

"No," she said, knowing that look from anywhere. "I'm not doing that alone." she shook her head, holding her hands out in front of her and backing up some. Aang sighed a little bit with a disappointed frown, but nodded. He was just happy she got her to fly with him, at least. They would work on the solo thing later.

"Alright, then." he closed his glider and grinned again. That was the thing Bella liked about Aang the most; he was always smiling. Bella smiled back at him as she put her hands down. "We should probably get back. I'm sure Katara and Sokka are wondering where we are."

"Yeah, we probably should have told them where we went." Bella added with a sheepish look, and Aang shared the look with her, then shrugged.

"Well, too late now. Common." they started to walk back in the forest together, lapsing into a comfortable silence. Aang was the one to break it though. "Sooo..." he started. Bella looked over with an amused smirk.

"Sooo...?" she repeated in the same tone, and they both laughed a little.

"So, what were you doing off of Hawaii?" Aang asked as they walked, using his glider as a walking stick. Bella blinked a little, then shrugged, coming up with a lie quickly.

"I just got bored; there isn't anything really special there. So I decided to leave home... without um... telling." she grimaced at the thought. Was her mother worried and looking for her?

Aang looked over with a slightly surprised look on his face, but it faded into a frown. "You ran away." he realized. Bella shrugged again, looking down.

"You could say that, I guess."

"But, won't your mom be worried?" he asked, concerned. Bella sighed a little.

"I was asking myself that." she replied, then decided to lighten the mood. She reached over and tapped him on the shoulder, then took off. "You're it!"

Aang blinked, then realized what that meant. He grinned widely and took off after her. He shot a tuft of air behind him to shoot him forward. Bella realized this and by reflex, jumped into the air and shot a tuft of air beneath herself, launching herself up into the air.

Finding his target no long in front of him, Aang blinked again in confusion and looked up. He let out a laugh and launched himself up as well. "Good one!" he commented, reaching his arm out and _just_ grazing her arm with the tips of his fingers. "But, you're it!" then he shot air between them and jumped away.

Bella landed in a crouch, then grinned his way and charged after him. This went on back and forth until they reached camp. Just outside the cave, Bella tapped his arm and jumped inside. "The cave is base!" she said quickly, and Aang pouted a little as he entered the cave as well, then grinned.

Katara smiled as she watched them, but couldn't hide the fact that she had been worried. "Where were you guys?" she asked. Sokka walked up from behind her.

"Yeah, you two just took off without a word. Katara was worried." he said. Aang and Bella laughed a little sheepishly, Bella rubbing her left arm and Aang rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey, you were worried too." Katara crossed her arms giving him an amused look. Sokka blinked.

"I was not! I was just... concerned for their safety is all." Sokka crossed his arms too, giving her a curt nod.

"That's the same thing, Sokka." Katara countered, narrowing her eyes.

"_Worried_ and _concerned_ are **completely** different things!" Sokka moved his arms in a chopping motion, cutting off sections for the two emotions, then cut through them with his hands.

"Whatever you say, Sokka." Katara rolled her eyes, going back to packing things up.

"Sorry, I was just teaching Bella some air bending." Aang explained after their little discussion. Bella nodded to second his statement.

"What, tag?" Katara smiled a little not looking at them. The two both laughed awkwardly.

"Air Bending was.. involved." Bella grinned, and Aang nodded to second _her_ statement. Katara didn't say anything. She was actually glad Bella had joined them. This meant that Aang could be a kid again, having someone his age to hang out with.

"Well, get your guy's stuff packed up, we're about to leave." she told them. The two nodded and went to go do as they were told, both grinning widely.

**Later in the day**

After hours of traveling, Bella was lying on her stomach on Appa's saddle drawing imaginary pictures on the surface of it. Her gray eyes drooped in boredom, and she was about ready to fall asleep again.

Suddenly, Momo landed on top of her head, giving her a couple chirps. She jumped with a quiet yelp, then blinked looking up. "Oh, hey, Momo." she smiled. The lemur was giving her the impression that something wasn't right, and his chirps were slowly and lower. "What? What's wrong, little guy?"

Momo turned his head to the side then looked in the direction of the 'flyer's seat', where Aang was with a longing look. Seeming to understand, she reached up and patted him reassuringly. "Okay, I get it." she nodded, and he chirped a little faster and then jumped off, flying over to an annoyed Sokka.

Bella turned and sat up, then peeked over the edge of the saddle at Aang silently. His shoulders were shaking with a completely silent sobs, and she frowned with sincere concern. She slid down the saddle so she was beside him, and he jumped in surprise, and quickly wiped away his tears.

"Aang, what's wrong?" she asked quickly. He shook his head sniffing some, looking away.

"I'm fine. The speed is making my eyes water." he mumbled. Bella knew that was a lie, and put one arm around him with a solemn expression.

"Aang, you can tell me anything, you know that." she murmured softly, putting the hand of her free arm on his arm. He hesitated for a moment, then looked back at her, his gray eyes penetrating hers. In the split second, it felt like someone sent a shock through both preteens. But it was gone faster than they could understand it.

The Avatar looked away again with a hesitant, though he knew he could trust Bella. He sighed. "I was thinking of what you said about earlier.." he mumbled. "About running away."

Bella blinked then her eyes widen a little, remembering. She forgot that he was sensitive about running away, because that's what he did, and why he was here now. Bella frowned a bit and chewed the inside of her cheek. "What happened?" she asked quietly, already secretly knowing.

Without looking up, he began. ""100 years ago, I lived in the Southern Air Temple. I was raised by monks, hence the bald head. But.. one day, I was told that I was the new Avatar. I wasn't supposed to learn this till I was sixteen, of course, I was twelve." he looked back a little, seeing her engrossed frown.

"After that, the children segregated me, because they believed I was too superior to play with. But I wasn't any different! But one day, I heard the Monks telling my mentor, Monk Gyatso that they was going to send me away to the Northern Air Temple, because he wasn't taking his responsibilities _OR _mine seriously enough." he crossed his arms, more tears pouring down his cheeks freely. "I freaked out. I was afraid of the heavy responsibilities and the separation from my beloved mentor. So I ran away from home on Appa. But..." he closed his eyes with a deep frown.

"I was caught in a fierce storm, and a huge wave overtook us both. When we crashed into the water, it triggered my protective Avatar State which froze us both in a state of suspended animation inside an iceberg. After my disappearance, Fire Lord Sozin, knowing that the new Avatar, me, was an Air Nomad, launched a genocidal campaign against the Air Nomads in order to ensure his plots for world domination would not be interrupted by me... I was the only Air Nomad to survive the attack."

Bella felt the sympathetic look on her face as she wrapped her other arm around Aang in a secure hug. She felt guilty for bringing up running away, and she mentally kicked herself. "I'm so sorry Aang. I wouldn't have brought that up if I had-"

"No!" Aang quickly covered Bella's mouth with his hand much to her surprise. "I don't want you to say sorry. It was my fault. I was a coward." Bella frowned and pealed his hand away.

"You were _not_ a coward, Aang! Don't even say that! I would have done the same, in fact, I did. So if you're a coward so am I." she argued defiantly. Aang opened his mouth to protest, then blinked, seeing as she turned it around. He didn't like that.

"You aren't a coward.." he mumbled looking away. Bella's eyes softened.

"And neither are you," Bella used her hand to make him look at her. Their eyes met again, the electric feeling returning. "Maybe we did the right thing, or maybe we didn't. But if we hadn't, then we wouldn't be here. And I know now _every_thing happens for a reason."

Aang stared at her for a long, silent moment. Then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. The two stayed in the warm embrace until Appa groaned happily, glad that his master was in a better mood. Aang and Bella laughed, both simultaneously reaching down on either side of the bison's head and petting in affectionately.

The rest of the flight was spent in comfortable silence, water-bender, air-benders, and the tribes-man all thinking about the last couple days' events. Or, at least what they was going to eat in the next hour or so.

**Author's Note:** Ahg, sorry this took longer to write. School has started and, not that the work is hard as a freshman or anything, it's just that with all the getting up super early and going through the stress of school with all it's glorious drama and all that, then getting home and being completely drained, it's hard to find the time to sit down and write.

But I love it so far, it's been fun to write! Hope you enjoyed reading is as much as I did writing it! =D


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